Hydro Energy Articles & Analysis

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) this week announced its intent to award up to $43 million in Microgrid Incentive Program (MIP) grant funding for the development of nine new community-driven microgrids throughout its Northern and Central California service area. PG&E this week also announced the opening of the application window for the second wave of MIP grant funding beginning ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Renewable Capacity Statistics 2025 released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) this week shows a massive increase in renewable power capacity during 2024, reaching 4 448 gigawatts (GW). The 585 GW addition last year indicates a 92.5% share of the total capacity expansion, and a record rate of annual growth (15.1%).Although 2024 marks yet another benchmark in renewable energy ...

By Smart Grid Observer

President Trump has set an ambitious goal to make the United States energy dominant and cut electricity prices by 50%. According to a new ACORE report released this week, the U.S. has a crucial opportunity to meet this challenge and further position itself as a global energy leader. With electricity demand growth skyrocketing for the first time in decades, the report, Tax Stability for Energy ...

By Smart Grid Observer

With global electricity demand set to grow strongly, new technologies are opening up the massive potential of geothermal energy to provide around-the-clock clean power in almost all countries around the world, according to a new IEA report.The report, The Future of Geothermal Energy, finds that geothermal energy could meet 15% of global electricity demand growth between now and 2050 if project ...

By Smart Grid Observer

For the first time in its history, CleanPowerSF delivered 100% renewable electricity to all 375,000 customers on its default Green service in 2023. This historic milestone, achieved two years ahead of the City’s Climate Action Plan target, was made possible through an energy mix of solar, geothermal, wind and hydroelectric.“Providing 100 percent renewable electricity to our Green customers in ...

By Smart Grid Observer

In 2023, renewable energy sources accounted for 45.3% of gross electricity consumption in the EU, a significant 4.1 percentage points (pp) increase from 2022. This marks the largest annual increase in the share of renewable energy in gross electricity consumption since the time series began in 2004. In addition, the annual increases in 2022 (3.5 pp) and 2020 (3.3 pp) were the second and third ...

By Smart Grid Observer

The world’s electricity consumption is forecast to rise at its fastest pace in recent years, growing at close to 4% annually through 2027 as power use climbs in a range of sectors across the economy, according to a new IEA report released this week.Electricity 2025, the latest edition of the IEA’s main market analysis of the sector, forecasts that the growth in global demand will be the ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Stockholm-based wave energy technology developer CorPower Ocean has secured a EUR 2.5 million grant and a pre-commitment for EUR 15 million in equity investment through the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme. CorPower Ocean is among 71 innovative companies chosen in the EIC Accelerator’s most competitive call to date. In total, these companies will receive up to EUR ...

By CorPower Ocean AB - part of Inovacor AB

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) has this week launched a toolkit for pumped storage hydropower (PS) development. This toolkit details the barriers for delivering policy solutions to PS development and the appropriate mechanisms needed to drive this growth. PS is the largest form of renewable energy storage, with nearly 200 GW installed capacity, providing more than 90% of all long ...

By Smart Grid Observer

According to its provisional energy report, Spanish utility Iberdrola SA (BME:IBE) generated 83,294 GWh of electricity from its renewable energy projects worldwide in 2024, a 5% increase from the previous year. According to the data, renewable energy production fell 2.1% to 19,993 GWh in the fourth quarter. In comparison to the same period last year, the output varied across Iberdrola's markets ...

By IBERDROLA Engineering and Construction

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) this week announced its approval of the Construction and Operations Plan for the SouthCoast Wind Project. This is the final approval needed for the project from BOEM following the Department of the Interior’s December 2024 Record of Decision. “We are proud to announce BOEM’s final approval of the SouthCoast Wind project, the nation’s eleventh ...

By Smart Grid Observer

With global electricity demand set to grow strongly, new technologies are opening up the massive potential of geothermal energy to provide around-the-clock clean power in almost all countries around the world, according to a new IEA report.The report, The Future of Geothermal Energy, finds that geothermal energy could meet 15% of global electricity demand growth between now and 2050 if project ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Innergex Renewable Energy Inc (TSE:INE) has secured two non-recourse financing deals totaling CAD 199 million (USD 139m/EUR 132.5m) to optimize the financial structure of its hydro and wind power assets and to support future development activities, the Canadian company announced on Tuesday. The first deal involves a CAD 133.7 million project financing agreement with Canada Life Insurance ...

By Innergex

The COP29 Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge has gained the support of 58 countries, including major players from all continents like Brazil, Kenya, the USA, Ukraine, Pakistan, Morocco, Uruguay, Congo, Peru, Venezuela, Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, numerous European countries, and dozens of organisations. These signatories are taking the lead in implementing the ambitious target of ...

By Smart Grid Observer

On a power grid partly supported by wind turbines, solar panels and hydropower turbines, weather and climate patterns can significantly affect how much power is produced. And as more wind and solar are added to the grid, utilities will need to understand how seasonal patterns in climate and weather might cause swings in energy generation. In new research, a team from the Department of ...

By Smart Grid Observer

No two hydropower facilities are the same. They all work similarly by harnessing the power of rushing water to spin turbines and generators, which in turn creates electricity. But their differences—in size, age or mechanical parts—means there’s no one answer that can solve every problem that arises. “Hydropower facilities are like snowflakes; even individual turbines ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Government support and incentives for clean energy technologies have reached new highs as policymakers place renewed focus on energy security in the wake of multiple crises in recent years, according to a new IEA report.The first edition of the report – State of Energy Policy 2024 – provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date global picture of energy policies by country and sector, ...

By Smart Grid Observer

Renewables remain competitive despite fossil fuel prices returning closer to historical cost levels, concludes Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2023, released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) at the Global Renewables Summit during the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Of the record 473 gigawatts added in 2023, 81% or 382 GW of newly commissioned, utility-scale ...

By Smart Grid Observer

PG&E has been awarded $34.5 million in grant awards from the U.S. Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office to support 19 hydroelectric projects across its system.The grant awards are part of the DOE's Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentive program, and will fund work that provides grid resiliency, improves dam safety, and reduces environmental impacts associated with ongoing ...

By Smart Grid Observer

As announced on the website of the Central Meteorological Observatory, Super Typhoon Yagi, the 11th typhoon of this year, landed in the coast of Wenchang, Hainan at 16:20 on September 6th. At the time of landfall, the maximum wind force near the center was above level 17, with a maximum wind speed of 68m/s and a minimum central pressure of 915 hectopascals, making it the strongest typhoon landed ...

By Qingdao Leice Transient Technology Co., Ltd.